User:Nlaszewski/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
(Briefly explain why you chose it, why it matters, and what your preliminary impression of it was.)

I chose this article because this was based on a piece of literature that I have had experience with for reading for class. I think this article also matters due to the nature of the book, this book is a significant piece of literature since it has timeless themes, historical significance, and tells a meaningful story through well-crafted characters. This story focuses on the meaning of family, going through personal growth, and the impact that the Civil Rights Movement, and I think this story can be very relevant for people of all ages to read and know about. My preliminary impression of this article was that this article does have many comprehensive components to it, but I definitely believe that there can be some improvements made to some of the sections that are included in this article.

Evaluate the article
(Compose a detailed evaluation of the article here, considering each of the key aspects listed above. Consider the guiding questions, and check out the examples of what a useful Wikipedia article evaluation looks like.)

Evaluating Content

I believe that everything in the article is very relevant to the article topic, and there was not anything that was alarming or distracting. When looking at missing information, I thought that there could be a lot of information that can be added in regards to the historical context about the Civil Rights Movement, as this is a crucial part in understanding this piece of literature and seems to be lacking throughout this article. This article seems to barely touch upon key components such as the importance of the setting and the racial injustice aspects in this story. For instance, the background section completely doesn't touch upon the fact about the historical bombing and how that also contributed to the writing of this book. This article can be improved if there was just more details and references that are incorporated throughout the article.

Evaluating Tone

When looking at the tone of the article, I thought that this article was able to do a good job choosing words that are neutral and did not express any opinions, which was a good start to this article. This article not being written in a biased manner is always a strong quality of a Wikipedia article and that is extremely impressive given the nature of this story where opinions can be very easy to include. This is one of the stronger qualities of this article, as it allows for facts to be displayed rather than opinions.

Evaluating Sources

When checking all of the 18 citations that are listed, all of these links did seem to work when I tested them out, and it looks like all of the sources support the claims that are being made in the articles. These references do all come from reliable sources, which is always a positive component of an article. The sources also come from a diverse array of authors and publications, ranging from associations, encyclopedias, etc. However, these sources can definitely be improved and expanded upon when adding additional information to sections such as setting, racial injustice, etc. There can be many more citations and information that can be added, and this can continue to improve the credibility of this article.

Checking The Talk Page

Some important topics that were arisen in the talk page had to do with the writing style of this article, as one user noted that this article can use help to "write it in a more "Encyclopedia Britannica" style and less of a "1st grade book report" style". As this article is rated as a start-class, it is very evident that there can be work to be done, and it also is a part of some Wiki-projects as well. This Wikipedia page also differs from how we have discussed this text in class as it does not have much in-depth analysis on themes and how it connects to children's literature, so this page can significantly benefit from that as well!